The UW–Madison School of Education Wisconsin Teacher Pledge program was spotlighted in Up North News recently in an article that is headlined, “The University of Wisconsin Gets Creative to Recruit, Train, and Retain the Next Generation of Teachers.”
In addition to providing an overview of how the program works, the article shares quotes from current students that were originally included in the Badger Herald.
“I knew I wanted to go to a bigger university for my postgraduate education and was looking around at different programs, trying to find the best one for me,” Camryn Booms, a current master’s student in the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, recalled.
Booms, who is from Michigan, said the program helped convince her to come to Wisconsin.
“When I found out about the Teacher Pledge, I knew Wisconsin was the best fit,” she said.
The UW–Madison School of Education Wisconsin Teacher Pledge is dedicated to strengthening and diversifying Wisconsin’s teacher workforce. It pays the equivalent of in-state tuition and fees, testing, and licensing costs for all teacher education students. In return, graduates “pledge” to teach for three or four years at a pre-kindergarten through 12th grade school in Wisconsin.
The Teacher Pledge won’t solve the teacher shortage by itself — but enrollment numbers are showing it is helping incentivizing students to enter the School’s teacher education programs. Will it continue to show promise? University researchers are studying this pilot of the Teacher Pledge to find out and the School will share key findings that could help aid efforts around Wisconsin and across the nation in building a stronger teacher workforce.
“Knowing that I won’t have any debt from this program and that everything was very nicely set up is a big stress reliever,” Booms added. “I can ultimately go into the field of teaching and not have to worry about paying student loans.”
The article also highlights how the program is helping diversify classrooms by allowing first-generation students and those from lower-income families to earn their degrees.
“Representation in the classroom has a major impact on students,“ Trixie Cataggatan, an Asian-American senior who is pursuing a major in early childhood elementary education, told the Badger Herald.
“But I didn’t have that representation, so I want to be that figure for my students who are either Filipino or Asian American.”
Check out the full feature in Up North News.